When corporate mergers occur, farmers are often reassured that nothing really will change.
The assets are just changing hands, but services and competition will remain as good as before.
However, Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier said he has been noticing that some fertilizer depots that changed hands are beginning to disappear, and he’s worried.
“Those sites are getting shut down,” he said during KAP’s annual meeting Jan. 26. “It not only takes away from competition, it takes away from infrastructure when we need to get the fertilizer on the field.”
Read Also
Spider mites big soybean problem this season
Spider mite issues have been geographically limited but significant where they occur, said John Gavloski, an entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture.
Mazier raised the point to Shawn Hashmi of the Canadian Competition Bureau during a question and answer session.
“We would definitely want to know about that,” said Hashmi.
Multiple company takeovers and mergers have occurred in recent years, with Agrium in particular making many moves to take over fertilizer distribution assets.
Hashmi said takeovers and mergers are examined before being approved, and “consent agreements” have been imposed on buyers that require them to commit to continue operating some facilities. The same has applied when companies are forced to sell some of the facilities to others in order to ensure competition continues.
Mazier said farmers are often in a rush when they need fertilizer, so having pick-up points too widely separated could harm their abilities to operate properly.
“Consider yourself notified,” said Mazier to Hashmi.
